15 Fan Theories About Game Of Thrones’ Stark Family

Alright, so there are probably thousands of fan theories about Game of Thrones. That’s no shock to anyone. And while there are fewer or them, there are plenty of theories specifically about the Stark family. Hell, some of them have already come true. Who knows if that’s because George R.R. Martin had already written it…or if he just did what fans wanted? Either way, there are tons of theories out there.

Below are some theories that focus on the Starks directly. There’s stuff about Ned, Bran, Sansa, Arya, Nymeria (yeah I know she’s a dire wolf), and even Jon Snow (yes I know he’s not fully a Stark). Each of these theories travels from ancient Westeros to the present. And in case anyone is worried about possible spoilers because you haven’t kept up with the show and only read the books…keep reading. They’re just fan theories after all.

So, gear up for 15 fan theories that could shake you to your core. Or make you really happy. After all, who really likes Littlefinger or Sansa? It would be totally ok if they were disposed of, right? I’m not saying that the case, but it could very well be. If the theories are true anyway.

15.Surprise! Surprise! Sansa Stark Dies!

Alright, so there is a theory going around that Sansa Stark won’t make it through the whole GoT series. Which is not really surprising. Everyone else is dying, so why not her. Also, it doesn’t help that Martin’s original plan was to have only five people left at the end of the game. And she was not one of them. But now the theories revolve around how she will die. Some speculate that she will die in childbirth (from bearing the child of either Littlefinger, Tyrion, Jon Snow, or Ramsay Bolton…she gets around). Some people think that she will face the white walkers and end up becoming the Night Queen (which is sort of…undeath). Still, others think that Littlefinger will kill her because she knows too much. And then there are some who just think that she will simply starve to death while trying to hold Winterfell.

14.Bran Stark Drove The Mad King Mad

“When Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven travelled back to the events outside the Tower of Joy, Bran was apparently able to shout and be heard by the younger version of his father, Ned Stark. What if, going back further, the “whispers” that the Mad King Aerys Targaryen heard were simply Bran trying to talk to him…?” My goodness! Could you imagine if the whole reason why Aerys went mad was because of Bran trying to communicate to him from the future? How awful would that be? Of course, Bran is at the centre of a lot of theories, and he may also end up being the saviour of Westeros. So, maybe he did drive the king mad, and is now making up for it? But who can really tell, given the number of time-travelling hoops you’d have to jump through to sort that one out?

13.Kissing Cousins…

“Snow and Fire. Black and Blonde. Cute and Cuter.” Yes, people have been shipping Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen since basically the beginning of the series, and for good reason. They’re both attractive and awesome and cool and they’d make super cute babies. Overall, an alliance between these two is a smart idea. She’s the Dragon Queen, and he’s the newly crowned King of the North. No one would be able to stop them.” The series is called A Song of Ice and Fire. So, it would make sense. And yes, I realize they’re not kissing cousins. It’s more like kissing aunt and nephew. Either way, incest is commonplace in Westeros, so no one likely would care. Especially since they’re both Targaryens. As far as the title and just strategy go, this union makes perfect sense.

12.Arya Is Already Dead

Ok, let’s be honest here. Arya has at least been dead inside for a pretty long time. But, that’s not exactly what I mean here. I mean that she is dead. She is deceased. She is…”no one”. While the books and the show are different there is an interesting scene that is left out for show watchers. No one really knows what happens in the room when Arya is alone with the Waif. Many fans think that she was killed, and therefore actually became “no one”. Which would explain some of the cool, superhuman powers. And her being no one could either make things really easy when she wants to kill her whole list of horrible people…or she might just no longer think of it because she is no one. But, does that mean if she’s no longer Arya Stark that there will no longer be a wonderful Arya killing spree?

11.Ned Stark Is Alive And…Without A Head…

“One popular theory claims that Ned Stark is actually alive, having been swapped out in the Red Keep when he and Jaqen H’ghar of the Faceless Men were imprisoned together.” It’s an interesting theory, that’s for sure. And I would love it if Ned was actually still alive. But I don’t think for a second that he would abandon his family to their doom. Of course, he could be in some netherworld waiting to rise again (just without a head). It has been made pretty clear that death doesn’t really count for much in Game of Thrones. Lady Stoneheart, Beric Dondarrion, Jon Snow, Danaerys Targaryen…they’ve all been “dead” at one point or another in the series. And they’ve all managed to return. So, maybe Ned Stark is waiting for his epic return to bring back the rest of his family from the dead and rule Westeros!

10.Bran Brings The White Walkers To Westeros

“There’s a line of thought that when the Night’s King touch Bran in his dream while he was up at the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave, it made it so the Walkers could pass any magical barrier separating him from them. And guess what the largest magical barrier of them all is? The Wall, according to Uncle Benjen.” And speaking of Uncle Benjen, there are some people who think he is the Night King! But, aside from that, I wonder if Bran will bring the white walkers through The Wall. And I wonder even more if he’ll actually do it on purpose or not. I don’t know that it will be an accident if it happens (even though he was branded by the Night King). I think that until the Starks are firmly situated back at Winterfell (and not just with Sansa sitting there twiddling her thumbs) Bran might bring an army to waste Westeros.

9.Long-Awaited Lady Stoneheart

Lady Stoneheart might be coming! Now that there is more action with the Brotherhood without Banners, it seems like they might bring in Lady Stoneheart. And since this is pretty well the only way that Catelyn Stark is remotely enjoyable as a character, they really should bring her into the show. However, there is also a theory that it won’t be Catelyn who appears as Stonheart. Some think it’ll be Arya Stark. Why? Well, she’s spent a lot of time with the Brotherhood without Banners, and since her time with the waif, and becoming a “nobody” it could make more sense. Most people didn’t like Catelyn anyway, so maybe it’s best to leave her character dead, and make room for a more badass version of Arya Stark. Lady Stoneheart!

8.Arya Kills Littlefinger

“In a recent Entertainment Weekly cover, Arya is pictured carrying not her famed sword Needle, but a Valyrian steel dagger owned by Littlefinger. The most logical reason for Arya getting this weapon would be that she takes it after killing him.” Oh, that would be sweet justice. Especially if she killed him with his own dagger. He’s been begging for someone to kill him since day one. And why not have Arya do it? She’s already got a massive shopping list of people she intends to waste. And many people have been just waiting for her to go on a massive killing spree. And hey, it would free up a lot of soldiers from the Vale so they could be used by Jon Snow…or killed by dragon fire. Either way, Littlefinger has deserved death for a while, and maybe Martin will give us some justice at some point!

7.Jon Snow Rides Bran…?

Hear me out on this one. Bran can warg into beasts. So maybe he’ll warg into a dragon. And since there is a lot of speculation about who will be the three dragon riders, it makes sense that Jon might be one of them. So, Jon Snow may very well ride Bran (which is funny since Bran is the one who’s crippled). “People are thinking that the three riders will have Targaryen blood: Jon, Daenerys, and…Tyrion. Yes, really. Right before Tywin’s death at Tyrion’s hands, he mutters “you’re no son of mine”, leading some to suspect that his wife Joanna had an affair with Aerys II Targaryen. Tyrion is their child, leading him to have Valyrian blood and being the perfect third candidate for a dragon rider.” I swear, the family trees in Game of Thrones should really just be depicted by a tangle of weeds.

6.The Night King Is A Stark!

“There must always be a Stark in Winterfell”, according to the books. “Fans theorise the Long Night was ended with a pact – that the North would belong to men as long as there was a Stark in Winterfell. White Walkers can transform babies into blue-eyed versions of themselves. Maybe before the Battle for the Dawn they captured a Stark child and turned it into a White Walker in an effort to emotionally blackmail the Starks to stop fighting. The babe would have inherited the Night King title and struck a deal that it would stay away from Winterfell as long as Starks lived there.” I don’t know how much weight this theory really has. At least not with the whole blackmail, blue-eyed Stark baby thing. But it wouldn’t be surprising to me if the Night King was a Stark. Some think it could be Benjen!

5.The Remaining Starks Will Kill Each Other

“George R.R. Martin’s seventh and final book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series was supposed to be called A Time For Wolves, but it has since changed to A Dream of Spring. Some think the original title was indicative of a potential clash between the remaining Stark siblings.” Wouldn’t that be amazing? I personally think the title would have meant that the Starks could finally be at peace. It was their time to thrive. But if it was their time to fight, then that wouldn’t take long. Unless they do bring back Lady Stoneheart, the only people left to fight would be Bran, Jon, Sansa, and Arya. Sansa would be dead very quickly. Arya would likely fall to Jon (depending on her magical powers), and then Bran would warg into the remaining Stark and make them kill themselves. So, spoiler, Bran wins.

4.Bran Is ‘Bran The Builder’

The idea here is since we all know that Bran can now communicate with the past, he might very well have put himself into past events. He can warg into people. And he can speak to characters from decades past. Why not centuries? And maybe instead of talking, he warged into the body of someone, and called himself Bran? Then he could have built the very wall he might lead the white walkers through in the future! “Bran the Builder is a legendary figure who led the effort to put up the Wall 8,000 years before the events of the show, after the Long Night in which the White Walkers invaded the first time.The particulars of how this would work are not known, but this is a good one. Especially since Bran the Builder is who the present day Bran Stark was named after.”

3.Sansa Stark And Jon Snow Get Married

“The idea here is that since Jon’s parents are actually Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen — meaning Ned Stark is NOT his father — Jon and Sansa are cousins instead of siblings and nobody would think it’s weird if they got together to solidify their hold on the North. Or maybe even to lay claim on all of Westeros.” Basically, they are family. But distant enough that it wouldn’t make anyone sick if they hooked up. And that should hardly matter since we got to watch Jaime and Cersei get it on in the very first episode of Game of Thrones. So, really there would be no judgement either way. It is an interesting theory, but I think there’s been enough incest. And as hot as Sophia Turner is, I don’t think Sansa is near important enough.

2.Jon Snow Is Azor Ahai

“It seems obvious (too obvious?) at this point that Jon and his Valyrian steel sword is the one who will lead human forces into battle, and to victory, against the White Walkers. And even Melisandre believes it — though only after years of claiming it was Stannis and accidentally leading him to ruin. So “Game of Thrones” may yet pull another “Game of Thrones” on us in that regard by proving this theory wrong.” It does seem pretty clear that Jon Snow is the “Lightbringer”. But as already said, it seems a little too obvious. George R.R. Martin really likes to f*ck with his audience and piss them off a lot. So, which would piss people off more? Jon Snow actually being Azor Ahai? Or Jon Snow being killed off by the actual Azor Ahai?

1.Nymeria Starts A Wolfpack

“Martin hinted that Nymeria still has a role to play during an interview with Mashable in 2014. ‘You know, I don’t like to give things away,’ he said. ‘But you don’t hang a giant wolf pack on the wall unless you intend to use it.'” Since Nymeria hasn’t been seen (in the show) since the first season, it would be cool if she came back with an army. And there is a giant pack of wolves running in the Riverlands in the books. A pack which many think Bran has been connecting with strongly. “Not to mention that in TIME’s recent Game of Thrones cover story, there is mention of “wolves described in the script as ‘skinny and mangy'” showing up to the season seven set, seeming to hint that Ghost won’t be the only wolf to make an appearance in the coming episodes.”